With Earth Day having just passed, the timing is somewhat apt for the release of L'Oréal's 2016 progress report on the company's sustainability efforts – or the 'Sharing Beauty with All' program as it's collectively known.
Launched in 2013, Sharing Beauty with All focuses on a series of sustainability commitments made by L'Oréal that aim to be met by the year 2020. These involve the entire organisation, from the sourcing of ingredients through to production processes and the distribution of products. Now, at the halfway mark, L'Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon has released a report that provides an overview of the progress made by the company so far.
Agon opens the report with a letter in which he outlines key milestones and some of the changes the company has made in the three and a bit years. For example, it has exceeded its target of of a -60% reduction in CO2 emissions four years head of schedule, noting that because climate change is such a major challenge, the company's commitment is stronger than ever.
Agon also goes on to say: "the efforts made by our Research & Innovation teams for many years to reduce the environmental footprint of formulas or to respect biodiversity have led to much progress. This involves, in particular, products offering better biodegradability or containing more natural ingredients. Sustainable innovation is inciting us to be more and more creative, for example when we want to replace synthetic active ingredients with natural active ingredients while ensuring the same level of performance. These are all arguments to which consumers are increasingly sensitive."
In practice this looks like, for example, the 98 per cent biodegradable formulas used in its Biolage R.A.W haircare line. That brand's bottles are also 100 per cent recycled plastic according to the report.
To reduce its carbon footprint, L'Oréal has launched some major initiatives over the past year including powering large manufacturing sites with solar instillations and adding wind turbines to help run its Texas distribution centre.
The report also states that the company is using less water and generating less waste on an international scale. Dry vacuum pumps, air-cooled chillers and vessel cleaning systems are reducing the amount of water used at facilities in America. All L'Oréal US operations sites realised zero waste to landfill in 2016 too.
For more information and to download the report, visit the Sharing Beauty with All website.
